EXMOOR, England — Conservation authorities announced Tuesday they will proceed with the planned release of white-tailed eagles into Exmoor National Park this summer, brushing aside objections from farming groups who warned the birds pose an unacceptable threat to newborn lambs and free-range livestock across the moorland fringe.
The release program, coordinated by the National Raptor Recovery Partnership and backed by the national parks authority and a coalition of charitable conservation groups, will introduce eight juvenile birds sourced from licensed wildlife centres in Scotland and the Republic of Ireland. Officials said each bird will carry a solar-powered satellite tracking tag and will be monitored around the clock during the critical establishment period, with field observers conducting weekly ground surveys through the end of the year.
White-tailed eagles, sometimes called sea eagles, disappeared from England as a breeding species more than two centuries ago, hunted to extinction by gamekeepers and collectors who regarded the large raptors as a threat to game and poultry stocks. A small trial population was established on the Isle of Wight beginning in 2019 under a separate partnership program. That project produced England’s first confirmed eagle chick to hatch in the wild in 240 years, encouraging conservationists to pursue expansion into other suitable habitats across the southwest of the country.
Exmoor, with its broad moorland plateaus, deep wooded river valleys, and proximity to the Bristol Channel coastline, was identified in a 2024 habitat suitability assessment as among the most promising relocation candidates in England. The assessment, produced over 18 months by ecologists working under contract to the partnership, found that the park could theoretically support a breeding population of up to six pairs within a decade if human disturbance remains within acceptable limits. The area offers a combination of open hunting ground, sheltered nesting terrain in mature oak woodland, and river fish stocks sufficient to sustain a resident eagle population year-round.
The announcement drew swift and sharp criticism from local farming representatives. The Exmoor Farmers Association said its members voted overwhelmingly at a spring membership meeting to oppose the release, citing documented livestock losses attributed to white-tailed eagles in Scotland and Ireland where the species has recovered in larger numbers over recent decades. Association chair Margaret Prentiss said that farms on the park’s western and northern fringes have experienced what she described as repeated pressure from birds of prey in recent seasons and that smallholders raising sheep and free-range poultry are in no position to absorb additional predation risk without guaranteed financial protection.
Raptor ecologist Dr. Callum Sinclair, based at a northern university and not involved in the Exmoor project, said the tension between farming communities and conservation programs over large raptor recovery is well established across Europe but that the evidence for serious economic harm tends to be overstated in public debate. He said peer-reviewed studies from the Scottish Highlands consistently find that confirmed white-tailed eagle predation on live lambs represents a small fraction of the total lamb mortality that upland farms record each spring, with the majority of losses attributable to weather exposure, birthing difficulties, and disease. He added that in most documented cases, eagles preferentially take already dead or dying animals rather than healthy juveniles.
Program managers acknowledged the concerns of farming communities and said a formal compensation scheme will be fully operational before the first birds are released into the park. Landowners and farmers will be able to apply for reimbursement when they can provide evidence that an eagle was responsible for a confirmed livestock death. A comparable arrangement operating in Scotland has paid out an average of roughly 40 verified claims per year against a wild population of more than 150 breeding pairs, a figure that program officials said demonstrates both that claims are taken seriously and that the overall incidence of significant economic loss remains limited.
Environmental advocates and rewilding organisations hailed the announcement as a significant milestone in England’s effort to restore ecological function to degraded landscapes. Supporters pointed to the mounting economic case for large predator and raptor recovery, arguing that flagship wildlife species generate substantial visitor spending that rural and post-agricultural economies are well-placed to benefit from. A study commissioned by the partnership estimated that confirmed white-tailed eagle sightings on the Isle of Wight generated an additional half a million pounds in local tourism revenue during the first full year of the trial there, a figure that exceeded the program’s total operational cost for that year.
The first release window is currently scheduled for late July, contingent on a final veterinary health clearance of the birds. Program managers said they will hold a public information day at the national park visitor centre in Dulverton in early June, giving farmers and local residents an opportunity to meet project staff, examine the monitoring equipment, and review the compensation scheme documentation before release day arrives.